


you love him

by peterspajamas



Series: Steve, You Love Him [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Best Friendship, Dogs, Domestic, Domestic Avengers, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Pets, Steve Rogers & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tumblr Prompt, gym rat steve rogers, haha - Freeform, he's so brave and i love him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-18
Updated: 2020-12-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28142673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/peterspajamas/pseuds/peterspajamas
Summary: (stand alone!)Steve spends a helluva lot of time in the penthouse. Joking with Natasha, joking withTony,making coffee and looking at the view and-Point is, he, Natasha, and Bruce have made it their home just as much as it is Tony's. Unfortunately (or fortunately, it turns out) Tony has a No Pets Allowed policy. Of course, he is a pushover for one person, but a pair of puppies he brings home from the side of the road will turn their entire relationship into something new.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Series: Steve, You Love Him [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061123
Comments: 8
Kudos: 60





	you love him

**Author's Note:**

> this is a continuation to my last fic in the series, but it can fully be read as a standalone! 
> 
> the prompt was for Steve to convince Tony to let him keep an animal after they find a baby animal! Hopefully you liked it <3 
> 
> Tell me if you approve of the Natasha and Steve friendship I am all hearts for those two!

The only thing in the apartment was quiet. Physical quiet, large and comforting. Even the slightest movement, a rustle of blankets, would be dampened by large curtains on the wall and the carpet he had his toes buried into. The morning had been sweet. He’d woken up and gotten dressed then, as was tradition lately, joined Nat on Tony’s floor to make him coffee. She didn’t like him coming to her floor, and Steve liked the coffee machine up here better.

It was kind of funny to see Tony in the mornings. Steve would never laugh at him, he’d get snappy if he was being mocked, but jeez, he was a different person. Tugging ties around his neck and getting on the phone with some investor or another, maybe a research scientist, and bustling about. He could relay crises in minutes, tell Pepper to call HR on someone within minutes, and grab a coffee from the machine in 20 minutes. Steve liked to sit back and enjoy the show. 

“Have fun!” Natasha shouted on his way out. The elevator made a little noise-  _ beep _ \- and gosh, Steve thought those were funny. Nothing like the clanking machines from his childhood. It whooshed down. “Have you heard about Pepper?” 

“Tony’s girl?” 

Natasha raised her eyebrows. “Tony’s  _ CEO,” _ she stressed. “And I think she’s up to something.” He frowned. If she was scheming against Tony- well, it wouldn’t seem very in character, firstly, but- “She has been incredibly sketchy lately. Sneaking around the building and everything.”

Steve nodded studiously. “So you think it’s bad?” 

“That woman doesn’t have a bad bone in her body. Maybe some sour ones but Tony’s right to sing her praises. Never in my life have I met such an ethical CEO.” The word  _ ethical _ seemed to taste different on Natasha’s mouth. She’d kill, sometimes even unprovoked. 

So would Steve. He made it a habit to make sure nazis didn’t walk out of HYDRA bases alive. “What is it, then?” 

She grinned. “You know she’s got a fling going with Happy, right?” Tony’s security expert, Steve knew him. 

“Like, a  _ thing _ ? Or just-” 

“I think it’s just a fling. We don’t talk, but I spend a lot of time around the building when I have a free day. So I don’t think it’s gotten to more. She lives right down the street, he doesn’t join her when she leaves the building. But you know Hogan- Happy. He has his nieces and nephews for the weekend.”    
  


Steve’s brow creased and he downed more coffee. “She’s skulking about, avoiding him?” 

“I don’t think she likes kids. He’s showing off everything to him, and I think she’s scared to get attached to him. And, you know, you’ve seen her around kids.” Steve nodded. That was true. Pepper was not a big fan of children.    
  


“I have.” He cocked his head. That was the elevator. “Bruce, you’re up-” 

Tony walked through the doors, dripping wet. “Surprise downpour.” oh, there came the irritability. 

“Do you need a blanket? More coffee.” 

Even though the weather was awful, full, dark clouds, Tony brightened. “Yeah, get me a cup to go. I’m going to change. My pin stripe suit, probably,” he continued, strolling to his room. 

He left wet, muddy footprints in his wake. “Last time this happened, he brought a child home,” Nat groaned, wiping a spot of water he’d dripped onto her. 

Oh, Steve sure remembered that. He was fairly certain Tony was still in contact with Peter. “That was how we found out about Pepper, wasn’t it?” 

Natasha suppressed a laugh. Pepper’s interactions with him had been comical. Peter had been out on some sort of photography tour, when the sudden downpour caught him. Instead of going inside, he’d seen Tony and chased after him for an autograph. Then he’d gotten free coffee from the coffee cart and self professed gym rats, Steve and Nat, had run into him. Pepper had come to see Tony, taken one look at the kid, and spent the next 10 minutes making repeated strategical retreats and failing. 

Nice kid. Poor Pep. “Thanks for the coffee,” Tony said, emerging from his room. He kissed both of them on the forehead. “Gotta jet- see you in the evening.” 

“Bye!” Steve waved him out the door. The elevator made a tiny little ding again. Steve chuckled. “That little noise is so funny,” he laughed. 

“Let’s go invade his workshop, I’m bored.” Steve shrugged, stretching and getting up. 

“Fine by me.” 

____________

Later that evening, he was watching Natasha make traditional Russian soup. Delicious Russian soup. They heard a very slight commotion arriving in the elevator. In identical movements, they looked at the machine. Natasha was always alert and Steve had super hearing. No one else would have detected such small noise. 

The closer it got, the more Steve heard. He relaxed. “You’re evil,” he heard Tony hiss. 

“It’s just Tony.” Nat relaxed, pocketing the knife and the taser she’d brought out. “Annoyed at something or another.” 

The door opened, soup smell wafting into the elevator, and they found out why. A tiny puppy careened out of the elevator, followed by a matching one. Steve’s jaw dropped and he fell to his knees, scooping one of them up. “ _ Puppies _ ?” he asked, face melting when it licked at him. 

“Dammit, J- Jarvis! Call the animal shelter, the pound! Whatever! I don’t want them!” Tony called. He was haggard, a muddy pawprint staining his blue shirt. His hair was damp and the coat he was wearing had long since been soaked. He tossed the umbrella to the side. “I am  _ peeved _ .” 

Steve giggled. “Oh, you’re a good boy, aren’t you?” he whispered. Tony stared at him. “Baby! Baby, come here!” he coaxed, staring at the other dog. It went for Tony instead. “Aww, she likes you better.” 

Tony blinked, staring at her. Behind him, Steve heard the elevator start to rise again. Had to be Bruce. “When did we get puppies?” He beamed. “Oh, you took my advice, Steve. That’s nice.” 

“What advice?” Tony’s beautiful, suspicious eyes peered into all of them. 

“Bruce convinced him to get a dog.” Natasha ate a bit of potato. “Soup for dinner.”    
  


He hovered behind her. “Oh, I like soup,” he muttered. “Thank you for making it.” 

“Wait, wait, wait. You were intending to bring a dog? Into my  _ home _ ?” Tony asked. 

Steve looked down at the dog in his lap. “Didn’t you just bring a dog into your own home? Pretty hypocritical of you.”    
  


Tony waved it away. “I couldn’t just leave them. But there is a strict  _ no dogs in the penthouse _ policy.” 

“Hear that, sweetie?” Steve buried a kiss in his fur. “You’re not welcome here.” 

Bruce rested a hand on Tony’s back. “Steve’s home is downstairs. He doesn’t have to bring his dog into the penthouse. Easy peasy. Problem solved.”    
  


Tony sputtered as Steve’s face broke out in a smile, like languid waves on a beach. “But he spends so much time in here, it’ll be like  _ I  _ have a dog. I am not ready for that responsibility, Bruce, you know that, right?” 

“It’s fine. Steve can spend less time up here,” Natasha declared, drinking some more soup from her spoon and leaning on the counter. “Why don’t you take these dogs, Steve? They already need a home.” 

“Hey. Hey, wait. Stop right there. Steve needs to be up here. Who’s going to make my coffee?” Steve shrugged, beginning to rub the dog’s stomach. Its head lolled to the side and one of its legs pedalled the air in enthusiasm. 

“Jarvis can do it.” 

“I can do it, sir.” The voice from above was slightly teasing. 

Tony narrowed his eyes. “You know, why do you spend so much time up here anyway? Just hanging out with your best bud.” He gestured at Natasha. “Why are you always  _ here _ ?” 

He lifted one shoulder in a casual shrug. “I don’t know. Here, I’ll take them now.” he stood, getting the one Tony had begun to absently pet and lifting them both into his arms. “I doubt I’ll be back for dinner.” 

And that was that. Already, he had decided to name them Archie and Maude Mabel. Those were good names for dogs.

___________

Natasha, drunk on wine- or so he assumed- sashayed into his apartment later that night, around 10. Steve had his favorite sweater on and one dog was resting on his lap. Maude Mabel was across the room curled into her new dog bed. “I didn’t peg you to be such a good liar,” she teased. 

Steve blinked. “Whaddya mean, Natasha?” She raised her eyebrows at him. “Call over- Maude Mabel! Come sit on Nat’s lap!”

A loud laugh coaxed a smile to his face. “You named your dog  _ Maude Mabel _ ? That’s the cutest thing I have ever heard.” She willingly scooped the dog up. 

“Really, though. What do you mean?” 

Like a good research scientist, she studied him. “I mean when you were bickering with Tony. Honestly, it was cute.  _ I don’t know why I spend so much time up here _ . You play innocent, Rogers, but you’re good at the game. More than I knew.” 

Archie nosed him until the hand frozen above his fur stroked his back again. “I don’t know. Why I spend so much time in Tony’s penthouse. Maybe it’ because the coffee is nice up there, and the views?” Hesitance rested in his throat, between his hurtling stomach and worried mouth. 

“I thought…” Steve swallowed. She couldn’t know, right? Steve sometimes had those awful pangs in his chest, as if he was shot, when he looked at Tony’s skin. It wasn’t obvious that he wanted to touch it. It definitely wasn’t obvious how much he wanted to lean in and wrap himself around strong biceps trapped under those suit jackets, or the Iron Man armor. “You know. You’re lying.” 

He coughed. ‘I guess if anyone knew, it would be you?” 

“Steve, I can see clearly,” she huffed. “You’re in love with him.” 

“Yeah,” Steve breathed. His hands brushed over Archie’s fur automatically. 

“It’s not one-sided. I don’t know if you needed to hear it, but it’s not.” He stumbled over his words, coming up with nothing, with silence. “How about this?” she asked gently. “Make him coffee in the morning, bring your dogs up. He’ll allow it, we all know Tony won’t mind.” 

Steve nodded. “I can do this,” he said under his breath. 

“That’s right. You can do it.” 

He smiled tentatively, even though he felt somewhat incurably nauseous. 

__________

Maude Mabel and Archie were very well behaved for two dogs that hadn’t gotten any vaccines and had been found by the side of the road. They stood patiently with Steve on the elevator ride up.

“Steve?” Instead of  _ remaining  _ well behaved, they went tearing off into the apartment. “Hey!” Tony yelped, jumping back. “Why’d you bring them here?” he muttered into his coffee. 

Steve worried his lip between his teeth. “I- I didn’t know you were mad at me, I can go-” He drifted back towards the elevator. 

“What do you mean, am I mad at you? Are you not mad at me?” He cleared his throat awkwardly. Steve shuffled forward, smiling slightly when he saw house slippers on Tony’s feet. 

“I’m not mad at you,” Steve said quickly. “You have to know that.” Tony nodded, a look of profound relief marking his face.    
  


“Well. I’m glad. That we, uh, that we cleared that up.” Steve nodded, spying his one mug, washed, on the counter and reaching out to fill his mug with it. Maude Mabel curled up by Tony’s feet and he smiled reluctantly at the little lump of fur. 

“Me too. You know I spend time up here because I like spending time with you, right? Around you?” The bob of Tony’s adam’s apple as he swallowed hard pulled at Steve’s attention. He realized, all of a sudden, that he was scared shitless. “More than I like going to the gym. More than I like- I dunno, spending time with anyone else.” 

Tony set his coffee down with a loud clink. Both pairs of eyes, one clear blue and the other deep brown, stared at the wobbling cup. “And what do you mean by that?” He smiled teasingly. 

“Tony, you know I- you know I want to date you? Take you out?” 

He blinked, laughing in a voice that sounded far too strained to have good news. “Well, I do now.” Nat  _ said _ . Steve backed towards the door. “Hey. Where are you going?” Tony said sharply. 

“I get it if you don’t want this. I’m going to leave before make you more uncomfortable,” Steve recited. 

“No. Not until you, you know. Take me out.” A great pounding in his chest subsided into the entire world felt crisp and new. Matching smiles bloomed on their faces.

**Author's Note:**

> comment or kudos I swear they make my day! 
> 
> I was a little nervous about posting but hey! I want to get this series all the way done! and now it's finished :)


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